‘Worrying’ number of county children have tooth decay

Statistics published by the National Dental Inspection Programme (NDIP) has revealed that almost a third of Lanarkshire’s P2 children have obvious tooth decay.

NHS Scotland’s Information Services Division provides information on findings of the Detailed Inspection programme of P1 children in the 2017/18 school year.

The NDIP is carried out under the auspices of the Scottish Dental Epidemiology Co-ordinating Committee. In total 16,814 children from local authority schools across Scotland received a detailed inspection.

The report revealed that in Lanarkshire 29 per cent of P1 children had obvious decay in their primary teeth, and across Scotland children from deprived backgrounds are still far more likely to suffer from poor oral health.